Reform UK leader Richard Tice alleged that political pressure — possibly from the government — was behind the “unprecedented” action taken by Metro Bank to close the account of the rebranded Brexit Party.
In a press release provided to Breitbart London, Mr Tice, who took over as leader from Nigel Farage earlier this year, said that he believes the move to shut down Reform UK’s bank account was “the result of political pressure being exerted on someone, somewhere, somehow”.
“I cannot think of any other reason. Someone wants to make life difficult for Reform UK. Perhaps we should take is as a compliment!” he added.
Expanding on his allegation that political influence played a role in the debanking, Tice questioned: “Is it a coincidence that Reform UK is the only political party in the polls that is challenging the Government on issues fundamental to the nature of the U.K. as a free libertarian nation?
“The only party promising to give all our freedoms back. The only party challenging vaccine passports. The only party challenging the plan to vaccinate children with an emergency approved vaccine against a virus that children are very unlikely to suffer from.
“We are one of just 5 political parties that will have over 500 candidates at the next election in the UK.
“So is it a coincidence that when Reform UK is providing this challenge to the Government, our clearing bankers suddenly, inexplicably give just 60 days to close the bank account?”
Metro Bank, for its part, has said that the decision to close the party’s bank account was made because the account was “no longer commercially viable” and that the bank maintains a “politically neutral” position.
Challenging this claim, Mr Tice noted that millions of pounds sterling were likely to pass through the account and that the party is monitored by the Electoral Commission and therefore must be “squeaky clean”.
Nigel Farage's former Brexit Party, which has been rebranded after the departure from the EU as the Reform Party, had its bank account closed. https://t.co/JR9zkWi0ue
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) August 9, 2021
The Reform UK leader also noted that in his three decades as a businessman before joining politics, he had never seen any move like this.
“To put in context how unusual this is… I have been a director of over 100 companies, with many hundreds of bank accounts, with over 100 loans, in some 12 countries across 4 continents. Never, not once has any of those banks asked me to close a bank account and terminate a relationship,” he said.
“This is not ordinary course of business. This is extraordinary. Unprecedented,” Tice added.
In the press conference, Tice disclosed that he has written to the Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey to question if the Bank would itself step in to provide clearing facilities to Reform UK in order to “ensure that democracy can survive thrive and flourish with new ideas and parties”.
“Surely if we want to live in a thriving democracy then we need and should welcome small challenger political parties with new ideas to help encourage, push and probe, to shape and influence with more debate, more discussion,” he argued.
Mr Tice concluded by saying that, at present, Britain “does not feel the mother of all democracies but more like being under the godfather of an autocracy”.
Reform UK’s Tice Brands Tories as ‘Con-Socialists’, Party of High Tax, Regulations https://t.co/3xSrHK9AJL
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 9, 2021
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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